BIRTH OF BOSTON PURITANS CREATE “CITY UPON A HILL” By our newssheet writer in Boston September 8, 1630 URITAN elders declared yesterday that the Shawmut Peninsula will be called P“Boston” in the future. The seat of government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which began two years ago, will also be in Boston. It follows a meeting between John Winthrop, the colony’s elected governor and clergyman William Blackstone, one of the first settlers to live in Trimount on the peninsula, so called because of its three “mountains.” Blackstone recommended its spring waters. Winthrop (pictured) left England earlier this year to lead ships across the Atlantic. Of the hundreds of passengers on board, many were Puritans seeking religious freedom, eager to start a new life in New England. They had prepared well, bringing many horses and cows with them. The new governor, a member of the English upper classes, brought the royal charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company with him. However, the company’s charter did not impose control from England—the colony would be effectively self-governing. Arriving in Cape Ann, the passengers went ashore and picked fresh strawberries—a welcome change from shipboard life! Colonists had previously settled in the area, but dwellings had been abandoned after many had died in drastically reduced by disease. But Winthrop the harsh winter or were starving. is taking few chances by spreading out One early colonist was Roger Conant, who settlements to make it difficult for potentially established Salem near the Native Naumkeag hostile groups to attack. people. But Winthrop and the other Puritan In time, Winthrop believes many more leaders chose not to settle there, but to continue Puritans will flock to his “City upon a Hill” to the search for their own Promised Land. build a godly community, and to prosper. The As Winthrop told his fellow Puritans: “We shall harbor at Boston is a natural wonder with be as a City upon a Hill; the eyes of all people are potential to become a great center of trade. upon us. ” After a temporary stay in Charlestown, Boston will be their permanent home. Its name is said to have been chosen by ESTABLISHED in 1636, Harvard was Puritan clergyman Isaac Johnson, who once created by the “Great and General Court of lived in the English town of Boston. The ship the Governor and Company of the Arbella, which Winthrop sailed on, is said to Massachusetts Bay in New England.” be named for Johnson’s wife Arabella. The college was named for clergyman John Harvard of Charlestown, an early benefactor Although Winthrop’s Puritans got off to a who had emigrated to North America from better start than the Pilgrims ten years before, England where he had studied at Cambridge the colony has struggled with illness and tragedy University. In its early years, Harvard trained in recent months, and dozens have died. The many Puritan ministers. An Indian College governor’s own son Henry drowned in July. for Native Americans was also established The Massachusett and other Native peoples at Harvard in 1655. suffered in the great dying, their numbers .